This Calls For An Altar | Reflect 2024 | Holly Furtick

I'm really excited about what God has given me to share with you tonight. I want to read the scripture really quick before we sit down. So turn in your Bible if you have it. If not, it's going to be up here on the screen to Exodus 20. Beginning in verse 22, it says, Then the Lord said to Moses, tell the Israelites you have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven. Do not make any gods to be alongside me. Do not make for yourself gods of silver or gods of gold. Make an altar of earth for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, your sheep and goats and your cattle. And wherever I cause my name to be honored, I will come to you and bless you. Let's pray one more time. Father, would you bless the reading of your word tonight? Lord, we open up our hearts to hear from you. Use me, Lord. Now speak through me. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen. You can be seated. Okay. Can I have that water? I never. I never ask for water when I'm preaching, but I don't know. I was singing so hard that my throat is dry. Thank you, Waterman. So my dad is here tonight. He braved the sea of women because my mom asked him to drive her to Charlotte so that she could be here for reflect this year. My parents are a part of the Greenville campus, but this year, my mom wanted to be here. And so my dad is rocking the second row very bravely.

Now.

If you ever met my dad, you would know that my dad is not slow. Slow is not in his vocabulary. He's a fast walker. Do you know any fast walkers? He has this big bouncy step, and our whole family was always, like, 10 paces behind him my whole life. And he's also a really fast worker. So if you have a job that you need done fast, my dad is your guy. Now, if precision or accuracy, or, like, you're hanging a picture and you want it, you know, like, maybe you would need to ask somebody else, but if you need it done, you are crunched for time. My dad is your guy. He hates to sit around. So in my family, we did not go to the beach for vacation. Now, at some point in my childhood, I don't know if my parents sat down and had a conversation about this, but they came up with this idea that they wanted to visit as many states as possible before my oldest sister graduated high school. So we did what I would call speed vacations. So now my dad was a pastor, and he was able to save up all of his vacation time at once. And he would take it all in June and he would load all of us up in the family van and we would drive and camp in all of the state and national parks along the way. My mom would map it out. Now listen, when I say map it out. I don't know if there are some people in here who don't know what a map is, but my mom would like highlighter, map out the route. And rarely, I'm not kidding, this is truth, rarely did we stay in one place for more than two nights for the entire, like three week vacation. So most of my memories of my childhood vacations were not of like this serene, you know, beautiful ocean sunrise, but they consisted of riding in a car, getting out to take a picture at some famous location, and then getting back in the car until you got to the next stop.

True.

Okay, true, but listen, my parents accomplished their goal because by the time my oldest sister graduated high school, we had set foot at least or driven through speed vacation 49 of the United States. So on one particular of these trips, we were in Pennsylvania and my mom had planned for our route to make a longer stop. And we were going to not just take a picture, but we were going to tour Gettysburg National Military park and we were going to do the guided history tour. So we stopped at the visitor center and we picked up the map of the park and the brochures and this thing, it was called a guided cassette tape. Now, I'm not going to make a joke about what a cassette tape is, okay? But it was this. Anyway, so now on the brochure, it was very clearly stated in the directions that the vehicle must maintain a speed of 20 miles per hour in order to see the sights that the tour guide on the tape cassette would be telling us about. I think you're getting where I'm going with this. So we pop the tape in the deck and we start out. And I don't know why, but like, my sisters and I, we were like really into Civil war stuff. I don't know why, but the man on the tape, he begins, he begins by saying something like, you know, to begin our journey, look to your left and you will see a memorial statue of Abraham Lincoln in the precise place where he gave the Gettysburg Address. That was the only historical site of Gettysburg that we saw. Because my dad could not drive 20 miles an hour to save his life, he had to have been going at least 40. So every time the guy told us to look for something, we had already passed it, like five minutes. Back. And I fact checked this story with my sister Emily this week. And she remembers crying because there was like some statue of a dog that had like remained with the soldiers. And she never got to say it, to see it because nothing on the tape matched up with what we were seeing. So I want you though, to imagine my father in a car full of women who came to Gettysburg with an expectation and we were yelling at him, dad, slow down. Okay, so I was just thinking, here tonight, we don't have a car full of women. We have a church full of women. And this room is just a small representation of the number of women who are gathered together across all of our locations. And we all came here expecting to hear from God, right? And many of you, you came in here screeching on two tires. You may have been going hard all day, but you finally made it here. Now I want you to look at your neighbor and tell your neighbor, slow down. Now look at your other neighbor and tell her God has something to show you. It's on the tape. All right, if you're taking notes, the title of my sermon is this Calls for an Altar. Seriously, I'm so glad that you made it a priority to be here tonight. No matter what you had to go through today, no matter what the traffic was like or the parking lot was like. I am so thankful that you made it a priority to come and to be a part of this. Because I think that we have got to be the busiest generation of women to ever live. We do not stop. We go from appointments to commitments to activities, to errands, to dinners, to assignments, to chores. We put on our shoes at 7am and we don't take them off until 9pm and then we wonder why we feel run down and distant from God when. When in fact we never slowed down to see him in the moments of our day. And that's what I wanna talk to you about tonight. I wanna talk about how to build an altar in the middle of your busy life. I wanna help you see the importance of slowing down and re centering yourself with God. It doesn't take long, but it is so important. Because so often in our lives, we get going so fast. Fast that we fly past the moments that God was trying to speak to us. Something happens, good or bad, but we never slow down to whisper a word of gratitude or cry out for help. We just keep plowing through and pushing on. And I'm scared to think of how many moments in my life I have zoomed past missing a moment to. To encounter God. In my everyday life. And as I was preparing this message, I wanted to share something with you that I have been learning. And honestly, it has been more practical for me in this season of my life than any Bible study that I have ever done besides do the new you. But listen, just because I say that, that doesn't mean I want you to go out of here and quit your egroup or stop setting aside time to pray and read your B. Obviously do not stop coming to church. Those are the non negotiable things that we prioritize in our week, right? Those are the things that are forced slowdowns. But those things are not enough to sustain you throughout your day and in our passage. Israel has just left slavery in Egypt and they're headed into the promised land. They're in the desert at the foot of the of Mount Sinai. And God is giving Moses instructions on how the Israelites are to live as a new nation, the nation of the chosen children of God. And just after he gives Moses the ten Commandments, he gives this instruction that I just read and he says, don't make idols of gold or silver to go alongside me. Build altars of simple earth. Now the sermon is called this calls for an altar. So I'm wondering, did anyone in here grow up in a church that had an altar call every Sunday? Okay, I did too. And at our church, the altar was at the foot of the stairs and it was a special table that was reserved for taking communion, but it also represented a place of decision in our church. And every Sunday at the end of the sermon, my dad would come down and take. He would stand at the front of the church and he would offer an altar call. And the invitation was always pretty much the same. You could come to the altar and give your life to Christ, or you could come and ask for prayer, or you could come and become a member of the church. And while this was and still is a very beautiful ritual, and I have really wonderful memories of loving to watch people go to the front of the church in response to the message that had been preached. The this is not the altar that Moses would have been envisioning when God is giving him this instruction. Okay. Throughout the book of Genesis, we find the patriarchs marking a moment with God by building an altar. So for Moses and the nation of Israel, these stories of their ancestors would have been passed down to them and it would have been a really deep rooted part of their history. So when God gives this direction in Exodus 20 to his children, it was because they were going to be on the move, right? They've come out of slavery in Egypt, but their journey is just beginning. And God knew that there were going to be moments of great victory ahead of them. And he also knew that there were going to be moments of great fear. And he knew that they had battles ahead to fight, and they had giants ahead to face. And these moments, moments could not wait for a tabernacle to be set up or for a temple to be built. These moments called for an altar right in the place where they were. And I feel like one of the reasons that we live our lives at this backbreaking pace is because of the pressure that we feel to keep up with what we see. We feel like we need to look a certain way. We feel like we need to have certain things. We feel like we need to establish our career by this age, be married by that age, have children by this age. And if we don't, we're falling behind or we're less than or we're not enough. And then we feel the pressure that our children have to keep up. And they don't only have to keep up academically, but they have to keep up athletically and socially. And then we start to worry that they're falling behind because we're not enough. And so in order to keep up, we fill our days so full. We're like, oh, well, let me sign you up for this lesson or this activity or this sport or this class. And we fill our days so full that by the time my head hits the pillow, I'm scrolling mindlessly looking at other people's lives who seem to be making money hand over fist selling protein powder, lipstick and going on European vacations until I finally find fall asleep and I started all over again. I am here to tell you tonight that does not have to be your life. Every day, every moment is filled with opportunities for you to slow down and bring God into the many moments of your day. I am not. Don't worry, okay? If your kid is in soccer and they're do, I am not up here telling you to unhurry your calendar, whatever. I want to tell you that you can have your own altar call anytime you want. High moments, low moments, hurried moments, heavy moments. These are the moments that cannot wait for a candle and a highlighter and a cup of tea and a quiet time with your Bible. Those are great moments, but these are the moments that also can't wait for church. Those are great moments. These are the moments. And you know them. You've had them. They're moments that call for an altar, right where you are, in your car, at your desk, in your kitchen, right where you are, you can build an altar and you can worship God. We all want God to bless our day. We want him to bless our lives. And we all want to lay our heads down at the end of the day. And although the day maybe wasn't perfect, we want our hearts to be filled with peace. But I gotta tell you, we're moving too fast and we're getting ahead of the guide. On the tape, look at verse 24. It says, in every place where I cause my name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you. I want to show you that an altar is where God comes to you. An altar is where you stop to worship God. And I want to break this down. All right, so there's three points. I'm going to give them to you all at once. That's what Pastor Steven does sometimes. Slow the moment. The second one, offer a sacrifice. Third one is give it a name. Slow the moment. Offer a sacrifice. Give it a name. Let's talk about slowing the moment. God said, build an altar of earth. So he's telling them, when you feel that moment that you need an altar, just use what you see. Use dirt, use rocks nearby. You gotta do it right where you are. And so that means you have to use whatever is around you. So when do you build an altar? Whenever you feel something and you know that you need to bring God in to the moment. Remember when Pastor Steven taught us feelings come, but they don't come first? That was so good, and I really loved it. But I think that maybe the women need to back it up a step further, because we can be so in our feelings that everything feels tangled up and we're not exactly sure exactly what we are feeling in the moment. Right? Sometimes I'm feeling so many things that I don't even know what or why I'm feeling them. And usually I'm so onto the next thing that I don't even have time to think about what I'm feeling in the moment. And that's why we have to slow down and just acknowledge the feeling. Like, what are you feeling in the moment? So if I'm having a moment when I feel afraid, I'm gonna bring God into my fear. Have you seen that thing on TikTok where they say, new fear unlocked? Anybody seen that? Okay, if you haven't, I'll explain it to you. It's when you see something that you never thought of being afraid before, but now you are so it's like, new fear unlocked. Like, there's this one video that I saw of this guy, and he was like, something's in my ear. Something's in my ear. And a spider crawls out of his ear. It's just like, new fear unlocked. Like, I. I didn't know that I needed to protect my ears from spiders. Or there's one, like, where this woman is peeling back the drywall in her house, and it's, like, covered in black mold. It's like, new fear unlocked. I gotta worry about black mold behind the beautiful white walls in my house. Graham came home the other day. God love kids. And he told me, he said, mom, did you know that there are confirmed cases of monkeypox in the United States? He's like, new fear unlocked. Thanks a lot, Graham. So here's a small. This year, Abby started school, a new school. And so, as we were thinking about it in the summer, I pushed her to try out for the volleyball team. And I told Abby, I was like, look, Abby, it's going to be great, because when you make the team, you're going to get to practice with them in the summer, and then you'll have friends automatically on the first day of school. You'll already know people. And so I just thought this was, like, a really great mom idea, right? And so I was talking to my friend about it, and she was like, oh, I love volleyball. She's like, I played volleyball in college. Did you know that volleyball is the highest cut sport? New fear unlocked. I'm like, all of a sudden, I go from being excited about this opportunity to freaking out for my daughter. Like, what if she doesn't make the. Then she's gonna be so upset, and then it's gonna make it even harder for her to go to school on the first day, and she's gonna be even more nervous. And my mom radar was making up stories. Abby was dropping out of school by age 16, or I was gonna have to homeschool. Don't laugh at me, because you do it, too. I'm not trying to be too preachy tonight, but I just wonder if we are raising a generation of anxious and fearful kids because they have anxious, fearful moms and aunts and grandmas. You don't have to clap. It's okay. We all have fears about something. What we do is when the fear comes, when it comes over you and the anxious thoughts begin to flood your mind, that's where you build an altar, right there in that moment. In Judges 6, God calls Gideon to rise up and lead Israel in a battle against Midian. And the Bible says that Gideon was so afraid, and he questioned God. He was like, God, are you sure you want me? And God tells him, do not be afraid. And then the very next verse says that Gideon built an altar to the Lord and he named it the Lord is Peace. Your fear doesn't have to be rational to be real to you. And if you don't stop and acknowledge it, even if you just stop and say, this is so stupid. Why am I so afraid of this? If you don't do that, it will just continue to build and eat you alive. So you gotta stop. Because the moment the altar is calling you in the middle of your fear. Abby made the team, by the way. And I was waiting outside for her to come out of the gym on the last day of tryouts. And I was standing there, like, really nervously. And she came out and she smiled at me and she showed me her little paper. I know it's silly, right? It's just middle school volleyball. But I teared up because I was so grateful right there. It was just a split second. No one even noticed. I just took a breath and I was like, oh, thank you, God. Thank you, Lord. When you feel afraid, build an altar. When you feel grateful, build an altar. When God answers your prayer, big or small, you better stop and shout if you can or whisper if you have to. If you make a good grade on a test that you studied for, then you stop and you thank God. If you didn't lose your patience with your kids in the morning before school, stop and thank God. If you get into a car tomorrow morning that has a full tank of gas and a working ac, you stop and thank God. I'm wondering if there's anyone in here or anyone watching who has ever rung the bell after the completion of chemo or radiation. Anybody? My friend April is here tonight. She fought stage three breast cancer and she rang that bell, and it was an altar moment. And she was surrounded by her friends and family and nurses and doctors, people who have watched you go through hell and come out on the other side. You mark that moment when Israel won their very first battle in the desert against the Amalekites. Moses. You know what he did? I bet you can guess. He stopped. He built an altar to the Lord. And he called it the Lord is my banner. I want you to know tonight that God cares about every victory. He cares about eighth grade volleyball. He cares about exams, and he cares about cancer patients. He cares about it. He cares about whatever you care about. He's working things for your good. But let me tell you something. If you're going 40 in a 20, you're going to miss the things that he wants you to see. You're going to miss that. He was with you every grueling step of the way toward that victory. Every fear that you face, you're going to miss it. He was the one that was sustaining you all the way. Noah was grateful. The minute that he got off the altar and his feet hit dry land, he went and he built an altar to God. He didn't start building a home or looking for food. He didn't move on to the next task, even though what lay ahead of him must have seemed absolutely daunting. He slowed down long enough to see and acknowledge what. What God had brought them through. And it was there, at Noah's altar, that God made a promise to him. His promise was to never flood the earth again. And I want to tell you that when you slow down often, God will remind you of his promise to you. When you feel frustrated in a situation about your life, you got to build an altar. Have you ever had a situation where you were praying about something so much that you didn't know if you were worrying or praying about it? So, not me. Not too long ago, I was in that place. And it's like, a weird place, right? Because every time I would go to pray, I would just pray about the same thing over and over and over. And I don't even know if what I was doing was because it became more of, like, me just telling God what he should do. And I wasn't even, like, coming to God and saying, God, you know, I praise you, God, you're amazing. I was just like. Just, like, coming to God and just, like, giving God instructions on how he was supposed to move in my situation. I started to feel my frustration and my disappointment. And it felt like it was actually blocking me from talking to God. Even though in my mind I was telling myself that I was talking to God, right? Because every time that I would go to prayer, I would feel discouraged. And I would let the enemy say things to me, like, why bother praying about this? It hasn't changed. It's not gonna change. And for that matter, why bother about praying about anything if that's not gonna change, Nothing else is gonna change. And so one day I came across this verse, and it just kind of hooked me. I don't even remember where I was. I saw it and I kept thinking about it. So I went and found it a Couple days later, I went back and I read it. And then I went back and I read it again. I was like, ah, this is really good. And a few days later, I was still thinking about it and I would go and I would look it up and I'd highlighted it on the app on my phone. And I just started declaring this verse over my situation. And I would read it over and over again. And so then I decided I was gonna print it out. So I printed it out in like little, you know, card sized things and I cut it up and I put it everywhere. I put it up in my kitchen, I put it on the visor in my car. I even taped it to a plant, like the pot of the plant. And it was so amazing because this verse just began to like, get into my spirit. And every time that I saw it, one of the places that I put it in the kitchen was like when you open up the cabinet to get a coffee cup. I taped the verse right there. And so every time I saw it, it wasn't like I stopped to read it, but it was like I would see it. And something began to shift in my heart. And the funny thing is, nothing about the situation actually changed. But what changed was the way I began to see my situation. And I began to have more peace because God had given me a promise. Now I'm not going to share my verse with you. I know you want to know what it is, and I'm not going to tell you because it's my verse. You got to go and get your own verse. Let me tell you something. The promises in this book, they're for you. This is not just a book of stories. When this book says, I will never leave you nor forsake you, that means you. That means God is with you. If you feel lost or you feel lonely, you put a promise on him. When you read that, Jesus said, peace, I leave with you. That means you. So when you feel anxious, you put a promise on it. The Bible says, if the sun sets you free, then you are free indeed. It's talking about you. So put a promise over your addiction. Put a promise over what you're struggling with. You don't have to wait for Pastor Steven to tell you about God's promises. They are right here. Put a promise over your marriage. Put a promise over your family. God's promises are generational. When God told Abraham, he said, I will make you the father of many nations. And he told Abraham, kings will come from you. You know what Abraham did? I bet you can guess. He Stopped, and he built an altar right there to mark the moment of what God had spoken to him.

And then.

This is really cool. Years later, when Isaac, Abraham's son, he found himself on the run and he was afraid for his life, the Lord appeared to him and reminded him of the promise that was made to his father. And right there, Isaac built an altar and he worshiped God. God's promises are ours for the taking. So when you get one, you better slow down. Don't let it slip away. Write it down, put it up where you can see it, and let God rename your situation right before your eyes. His promises are for you. When you feel like you have come to the end of yourself, this calls for an altar. This is a big one for me. Because every single one of us in this room, myself included, has a situation right now that we feel like we cannot control, or a situation that we feel like is too heavy for us to carry. Or maybe even a situation that you feel like you can't cover it up any longer. You are in over your head, and you have come to the end of yourself. And I want to ask you today, why do we carry everyone's burdens as if they are our own? I can tell you why I do it. I have trust issues. I love the song, I trust in God. But when it comes down to it, I find that I wear myself out fighting battles that are not mine to fight. I carry loads that are too heavy because they're not mine to carry. And if you never slow down long enough to recognize this feeling of being overwhelmed, you'll just keep pushing and forcing things that are not yours to manage. There is a very fine line between practically thinking ahead and thinking through things and being manipulative. And I just want to say that manipulation will wear you out. Manipulation is about getting the outcome that I want. And, ladies, you may be facing a situation right now that you just need to let it go. Stop carrying the thing that you are not meant to carry. Stop covering it up. Bring it to God. Over and over and over and over and over again. If you have to. If you have to go into the bathroom at work, if you have to get down on your knees in your closet, you have to do whatever you can do to slow the moment and just meet with God. God said, make an earthen altar. Gather what's around you. Let it be muddy, let it be messy, let it be ugly. I've had so many muddy moments in my car with God. Usually it's in the morning, because I am not a Morning person. And so there are so many mornings when, you know, we done the whole lunch and, you know, bags and dropped off, and I'm finally in the car by myself, and I just feel like I'm carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders. And I'm thinking about this problem. I'm worrying about that person, and I'm wishing that I'd handled this differently. And so here's one thing that I don't always do it, but sometimes before I get out of my car and I just rush into the next thing, I just force myself to pause and breathe. Probably running late anyway, so. And I literally tell God, I visualize myself like, all right, God, I'm giving you this situation. I'm releasing this person that you love and you care about more than I do. And I visualize myself handing my burdens over to God, handing my people, my hardships, all of it just over to my heavenly Abba Father. Slow the moment. Then you're going to offer a sacrifice. Let's read the verse. Verse 24, it says, make. Make an altar of earth for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, your sheep and goats and your cattle. Wherever I calls my name to be honored, I will come to you and bless you. You see, you don't just get to build an altar. You have to sacrifice something on it. Don't get scared. We no longer have to sacrifice bulls and sheep and goats. Jesus came and he gave the ultimate sacrifice once and for all. But we still do have to sacrifice something that has value to us. Bulls and sheep and goats were the currency of this day and time. And so a sacrifice was a representation of trust. It was a symbol of saying to God, lord, you mean more to me than this. And I know, God, that every good thing I have comes from you. So here you go, Lord, I'm making this offering to you. So when you slow down and you mark the moment, you surrender something that costs you. David was building an altar one time, and he said, I will not offer the Lord something that costs me nothing. So sometimes a sacrifice can be something like a sacrifice of praise to God. So that just means in the midst of your pain, when the last thing that you want to do is open up your mouth and praise God, you do it anyway. God, I praise you because you are sovereign, you are in control. I praise you because you are worthy of my praise. And in the middle of your praise, you start speaking the truth of God. And then you just keep going. It starts to snowball. I was going to Say spiral, but it snowball and you say something. Lord, you are alpha and omega. You came before me, you go behind me. Nothing can happen to me that doesn't come through your mighty hand. I don't know if you've ever tried this, but you should. Sometimes when I can't get the words to come out of my mouth, I just fill my house or my car or my AirPods with praise music. This past week, I was sitting in horrific traffic that wasn't supposed to be there. And so I was frustrated. And then I was just like, making it about my sermon. I was just frustrated about the sermon, and I couldn't figure out how it was all going to come together. And so I just stopped and I put on Elevation Worship, the album Old Church Basement. And by the time I got to the song Wait on youn, I think that song number four, and if you know the album, you know that I was sitting in traffic for a long time because those songs are long. By the time I got to wait on you, I was declaring Isaiah 40:31 over my life. They that wait on the Lord will renew their strength. They will mount up on wings like eagles. They will run and not be weary. They will walk and not faint. I didn't feel like it, but I made a sacrifice of praise to God right there in my car. Sometimes you make a sacrifice of thanks. We all love to talk about the power of gratitude these days, and that's because it is a weapon. I don't care if it's self help. It's also God help. It is a weapon. And Pastor Stephen taught us about the grateful eight. And that's where you stop and you trace your hand and you remember it, and you trace your hand and you list the eight things that. That you are grateful for. But if any of you have tried this before, how many will agree with me? That that first one, it's like, ah, God, I thank you for this day. I don't want to be grateful. I want to be negative right now, but you could just get that first one out. God, I thank you for this day. God, I thank you for my health. God, I thank you for this beautiful fall weather that we're having. And then you get going. I'm like, God, I thank you for my husband. I love him so much. Thank you. By the time you get to number eight, I find myself thanking God for what he's gonna do in my situation. You can offer a sacrifice of praise, you can offer a sacrifice of thanks. These are gonna get progressively harder. The first two are beginner level faith. If you have advanced level faith, you understand that sometimes you have to sacrifice something that you love. I have had so many moments in my life where I had to reluctantly let go of a dream, a dream that I thought God had given me. And I had to say, God, I'm giving this dream back to you. I'm laying it down on the altar. If you want to give it back, I will let you. But right now I am trusting that you are the God of immeasurably more than I can ask or imagine. And maybe, Lord, you have a better dream for me. So I'm giving this to you. Sometimes you sacrifice a person that you love. You say, lord, this person is your child. And God, I know you love them more than you love. Well, not more than you love me, but that was the one I meant to say, God, I know you love them more than I love them. He loves us all the same. But then you say, God, I'm releasing my hopes and dreams for them, knowing that you have good plans for them and you don't need my help. I have some suggestions, Lord, if you would like, but I'm giving this person to you. Sometimes you let go of your disappointments, God, this did not turn out the way that I thought. But Lord, I'm surrendering my expectations to you. Okay, I have another one and this one's really hard. Sometimes you have to put your anger on the altar. Can I just say for a minute that we have become a generation of not only busy women, but angry women. We're mad at our spouse, we're mad at our mom, we're mad at our teenager, we're mad at the person at work that doesn't pull their weight. We're mad at our kids teacher, we're mad at our. We're mad at our boss. And we think it's funny. You know, like we go on Instagram reels or TikTok or wherever you get your mindless scrolling activity and you see all these women doing these little like funny anger rants. And God told me to come up here and tell some of you tonight that you need to let go of whatever or whoever you're angry at. Because anger. Listen to me, this is so important. Write this down. Anger blocks your progress because as long as you are angry, you never have to accept or change your own behavior. If they would have, if they wouldn't have, if they would just. If they would be, then I wouldn't be so angry. And I'm not saying that there's Never a time when you can get angry. It's okay to get angry. It happens to us all. What I am saying is you cannot afford to stay angry. Because if you stay angry, you will become bitter and then you will become someone that not even you like. Put your anger on the altar tonight. Put your pride on the altar tonight. Recently, I was having a little moment with God. And just so you know, like I said, my little moments with God are not always heavenly. Sometimes they're muddy and ugly. And I was trying so hard to talk to because I was disappointed in something that was going on and something that had happened. And I was trying to bring God into the situation. But honestly, like, all I could do in just, like, thinking about the situation was make up stories in my head about what people saying about me that wasn't true or wasn't fair. And, you know, all of that, and it really wasn't like a beautiful altar moment. And I realize now that I was trying to have an altar without making a sacrifice. Because a few days later when I was talking to my husband, I realized that the majority of my frustration about the situation, oh, listen to me, this is so good. It wasn't what actually happened, but it was my pride in worrying about how others would perceive me because it happened. And I didn't want to acknowledge my pride in this situation. I wanted to be angry, but it wasn't until I surrendered my pride and I just started to say, okay, God, help me to see what I could have done better. Help me to see what you want me to learn. Help me to see where you are in this situation rather than making up all these stories. You do it, too. You're looking at me like you do it too. Guys, this was not the message that I wanted to preach tonight. I would rather preach about friendship. I think I've preached about friendship for, like, half of the reflex. But this is what God gave me. And there are more than 10,000 women gathered together tonight. And I want you to know you are in an amazing community of women and you need a support system and all those wonderful things. But more than I want you to walk away tonight happy, I want you to walk away tonight lighter because you surrendered something to God. Okay? Look at what Paul says in Romans 12. Romans 12. Well, that's way down there in my notes. Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. The apostle Paul was chosen by God to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. And that just means everybody who is not a Jew. And he devoted his life to building the church and helping the Gentiles understand that when Jesus died, he died for everyone, Jews and Gentiles. And the old law, and Paul is saying is done away with. So no longer do you have to atone for your sins by offering a bull as a sacrifice. There's a new law that says that God, in His great mercy, sent Jesus to die for our sins. And all he wants in return from us is your whole life. He wants all of it. He didn't just die for the pretty parts of your life. He didn't just die for the church moments of your life. He died for all of it. He died for our hopes, our dreams, our victories, our defeats, our pride, our shame. He wants it all. And when you offer God all, when you offer him your whole life, this is true worship. This is true. Sure, you can come to church and you can worship God, but true worship happens when you give God the thing that costs you, when you give him your whole life. So I was reading about this verse, and I and I saw that the word for sacrifice is translated killing. So if you were to translate this directly, it means. It says, saying, make your life a living killing. So Paul is saying, we're not offering bulls and goats and sheep anymore. That was actually easier. You bring it, you kill it, and it stays dead. This sacrifice is much harder because it's a living killing. That means that this thing is going to try and crawl off the altar every chance it gets. Wouldn't it be nice if we could sacrifice our anger once and for all? Wouldn't it be nice if we could surrender our disappointments and we could let go of the weight that we're carrying for good? But it doesn't work like that. Sometimes it's day by day, minute by minute, moment by moment. But this is what it feels like to have a relationship with God. One scholar that I read said, it feels like a death, but on the other side, it's life. That's why it's a living sacrifice. It's a sacrifice that leads to life. So on the other side of you laying your life down to God is life. Jesus said, I came so that you could have life to the full. And it's hard, but it's wonderful. There's life on the other side of it. So I gave you my three points at the beginning. Slow the moment. Offer a sacrifice. Give it a name. Abraham built an altar to the Lord, and he called it the Lord will provide. Jacob built an altar, and he called it the mighty house of God. Moses built an altar, and he called it the Lord is My Banner. Gideon's altar was called the Lord is Peace. So here's the thing. You build an altar, you make a sacrifice, and then you give it a name. Now, don't make it complicated. You can borrow a name from the Bible. You can call it, you know, the Lord is My Banner, if you know what that means, or you can just make up your own. You can call your altar the Lord is My Healing, or you can call the altar the Lord is My Help, or you can call the altar God's Got Me. You get to name the altar so that when that living killing tries to crawl off, you say, nope, I'm not worrying about this anymore. The Lord is my provider. I'm not letting this control me anymore. I will not be anxious. The Lord is on my side. You can name your altar and you can go back to it again and again and again. Tonight, the altar is calling you. And what I don't want to do is rush out of here and move on to what's next for your weekend. And you miss an opportunity to have a moment right here with God, right where you are, I want you to make an altar to God. So, okay, we're going to have a moment. So sit down. The band's gonna start to play. And in this moment, you can write. You can just quietly pray and think. You can turn in your seat and kneel, but you don't have to. This is your moment. And I just want you to think, are you missing a victory that you should be celebrating tonight? Are you fearful of the future? Are you frustrated with this situation? I want you to acknowledge the thing that you have been carrying that is too heavy. And I want you to remember that nothing is too ugly to give God. Nothing is too raw to surrender to him. Lay it down on the altar. Surrender it to Him. Don't forget, while you're sitting and you're processing, don't forget to give it a name so that you can go out of here with a fresh perspective on what God spoke to you tonight. Reflect 2024. The band is going to play, and they're going to continue to play for a few moments. I'm going to give you enough time, and then the team is going to come out and they're going to lead us in a song. And if you're not finished, you finish. You don't have to stand and and sing. You stay right where you are. Or you can stand and and join in this is your time right now to reflect on what God is speaking.

Are you hurting? Broken, fed oh well by the way Jesus is calling have you called to the end of self dear Thirst for a drink from a well Jesus is calling oh come to the altar the Father's arms are open wide Forgive with this was bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ there's no reason to wait Jesus is calling and bring the sorrows from the ashes of new life is born Jesus is calling oh oh Come to the water the Father's arms are only one Forgiveness was bought with the precious blood of O Come to come to the Al the Father arms are open wide Forgiveness was brought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ it covers you today he came the sacrificial lamb he became the sacrificial lamb so we could walk in freedom Fail to lay your broken dreams at the altar and every victory at the altar Fear and anxiety cannot live here and there's no waste at the altar Ex don't make it perfect Just let it be honest he is anything Sit back and watch it there's no way living no race at the al Let your heart sing out Sing out or sing out don't make it perfect Just let it be on we can use anything Let your heart sing out Sing out Nothing out don't make it perfect when you're back and water there's no way to make broken trees on the Al and every victory he can't use anything Sit back and watch it oh there's no way stop me so lay it all lay it all down Lay it all down Lay it all down Lay it all down Lay it all down Lay it all down There is no way down it all down.

Thank you God for laying it all down Tonight, Lord, we're laying down our hopes, our dreams, our plans. Because we believe, God, that you have bigger, better plans for us. And we surrender our lives to you, Lord. We're getting on the altar, God, we might crawl back off soon, but we're getting on tonight and we're making a promise to you, Lord thank you God. Thank you Lord for your love for us. Thank you tonight for all of the things that we've put on the altar. And God, I proclaim that there is no waste at the altar that we can bring you anything and everything because you are our Abba Father who loves us. We're giving it all to you now, Lord. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you Jesus name Thank you Lord.